Re: SOAP breaks HTTP?

Henrik Frystyk Nielsen wrote:
> 
> I commend you for having done the analysis of these services and I agree
> that education is needed but I see the exact same tendencies in many
> HTTP/HTML form-based "applications". I am not saying this to justify any
> of this but rather to point out that the problem seems to be related to
> application models and not so much protocols.
> 
> >Can you point me to a public, running SOAP-based web service that does
> >*not* take information that rightfully would have URIs and be "in the
> >Web information space" and put that information behind a method-based
> >interface with no addressability?

Would you agree that there are HTTP-based services that do not have the
problems I've outlined in UDDI and the other SOAP services? For
instance, Expedia seems to me to be a nice, transaction-oriented service
that makes excellent use of URIs to bring transactional information into
the web space. For instance this URI represents an intinerary for a
flight I just took:

 * http://www.expedia.ca/pub/agent.dll?qscr=open&itid=34975148&updt=1

So it is clear that from a web architecture point of view, HTTP can be a
force for both good and evil. 

If someone could point me at a public, functional SOAP+HTTP service that
did not abuse HTTP and dilute the web architecture then I could say the
same about SOAP. At that point it would become a usability question of
why so many people are mislead into misusing it. That's still a serious
question but at least we would have demonstrated that it is feasible to
use SOAP and HTTP in a way that makes sense for both.

 Paul Prescod

Received on Tuesday, 26 March 2002 12:12:54 UTC